The Irish standard., 1887-02-26
THE SCORPION FAMILY.
How the Young Insects Live at the Elk.
pense of TIeir Mothers Life.

How the Young Insects Live at the Ex
pense of TIleir Mothers Life.
A few years ago while in the Island
of Jamaica, it was my fortunate chance
to have an opportunity fol-
observing very curious facts i'll
connection with that genus of the
Arachnida class commonly known as
scorpions, and the curious traits OF
character in these insects. Turning
over some old papers in my Office one.
day, I suddenly came upon a large
black scorpion, who promptly tried t.
beat a precipitate retreat Having read
Or heard somewhere that if you blow OF,
scorpion he will not move, I tried the
experiment, and was greatly astonished
to find that it had that effect. The scor-
piou stopped instantly, llattene;l him
self close to the paper on
which he had been running, and had
all the appearance Of ''holtling on for
dear life. - While I continued to blow
even quite lightly, he refused to move,
though pnsl1ed him with a pencil and
shook the paper to which he clung so
rcnaciously. Directly 1 ceased blow
ing, he advanced cautiously. only to
stop again at the slightest breath. I
was thus able to secure him in a glass
tu1nbler which happened to be within
reach aud then J determined to try
another experiment as to the suicidal
tendencies which I had heard run in
the Pedipalpi family.
On the stone floor Of the Kitchen at
Tackled to my Office, l arranged 4 circle
OF burning sticks about three yards in
circumference, the sticks being SO
placed that there were 40 means Of exit
through the fire. 1T was not intense,
but small and quite bearable as regards
heat within % few inches, SO that the
central part Of the circle was perfectly
cool Into this center I accorttinly
dropped my scorpion who, on reaching
terra .fynaa, darted off in a great hurry,
only to be quickly brought to a halt
on reaching within u few inches Of the
periphery of the circle. After a
short pause Of reflection, he deviated
to the right, and ran once completely
'ound the circle as near to the fire
as it was prudent to venture. This he
did three times, often approaching the
burning sticks quite closely in his
anxious endeavors to escape. In about
quarter of an hour, finding his efforts
were useless, he retired almost into the
exact center of the circle, and there in
q tragic manner raised his tail till the
sting or spur was close to his head,
gave himself two deliberate prods in
the back of the neck, and thus misera-
bly, persisted. AS I placed the body of
the suicide in bottle Of spirits, I al
most regretted that I had not let him
escape before he had resorted to such
an extreme measure.
My last experience is even more
curious than the preceding. and it
shows remarkable provision of nature
that is almost incredible. I was play
ing a game of billiards in a small vii
lage in the Blue mountains; there was
no ceiling 70 the room, the roof being
covered, as is the custom in Jamaica,
with cedar wood shingles. My OPP
ponent was smoking a large pipe,~ and
suddenly, just as was about to play q
stroke, what / thought was the con-
tents of my friends pipe fell on the
table. Instinctively, J. was On the point
Of brushing it off with my hand, when,
to nay amazement, saw it was Il NOV"
ing mass, which, on closer inspection,
turned out to be a large female scor~
pion, from which ran away in every
direction number of perfectly termed
little scorpions about a quarter
of an inch in length. The mother
scorpion soon ended her feeble strug-
giles; the whole OF her back had been
eaten out by her own offspring, Of
which we killed the astonishing num-
Der of thjrty-eight. They had not
only been carried by their parent, but
they had lived on her, cleaning out her
body from the shell Of her back, so chat
she looked like an inverted cooked crab
from which the edible portions had
been removed. She had clung to her
retreat in the shingled roof until near
the approach, of death, when she had
fallen and given US this curious spec
tacle was told by the attendant that
the young scorpions always live thus
at the expense OF their mothers life,
and that by the time her strength is
exhausted they are ready to SHIFT for
themselves Christian 0t Work.